Z262 Stories

Welcome!

This is part of a little project I like to play around with. Primarily, it follows the lives of a group of colonists on a planet designated simply, “Z262”. The characters are part of a mining colony established by the ArCorp company, set to recover corundum for use in laser technology. Their lives are not without risk, however, as the elements of Empire Rodentia, bound in their ceaseless war with the animals of the Combine, want those same minerals for their own use.

The colonists are diverse in nature, each with their own lives and troubles. Some have fled to Z262 to start a new life away from whatever haunts their past, while others are simply in it for the money. One may come here to expand the reach of their faith, while another simply prays for a quiet life, and another hopes for the violence and fury of combat with the forces of Empire Rodentia.

Running the gamut from a quick slice of life to a tale of brutal action, the Z262 tales are one of my favorite short/flash fiction outlets. Clicking on the title will open the story in its original location on the site.

Renowned among those who know him as a fierce killer, Zeke Sharn has retired from war and spends his days trying to be something he is not. A contract, delivered by an old friend, will bring him the opportunity to return to the life he tried to leave behind.

Skeeter is a juvenile, barely above a kit, when his family uproots their home for a new life on Z262, and he is not pleased. Miranda is a young cat with a similar dilemma, who sees in the fox hope for a new friend.

As a Disciple of Gara, the Goddess of Creative Works, Sister Alice finds herself building new and wondrous things. Her life on Z262 is peaceful, but the arrival of a local mechanic makes her consider things she never has.

Some Folk are more at home in a killing field than a restaurant, and Duggan is one of them. A scarred and tattooed veteran with little use for polite society, Duggan makes his home behind the butt of his machine gun, and he makes no apologies for it.

Buck and Eric want nothing more than a life of relaxation. Left to their own devices, they would spend their days drinking and avoiding responsibility. But an opportunity to do something new, like opening their own bar on another world? That’s hard to resist.

Fear is a hard thing to fight, and when your fear is that of confessing your feelings to another, it can be paralyzing. For Skeeter, that means he needs to ask someone with more experience facing fear than he has. Tristan is an old scout with more time in combat zones than in a kitchen, and more than a little difficulty toning down the answers he provides to the fox kit.

Zeke and Colleen are an item now, and the time has come for him to meet her family. On the holiest of nights in the Tolean religion, of which Colleen’s father is a priest, Zeke goes to dinner at their home. The clash of cultures between his warlike nature and the pacifistic devotees of Tole could put his relationship on the rocks.

Life as a fighter pilot is what Cutter always wanted. A cat in a job dominated by birds, he works his tail off to be better than anyone else, for in the vicious ship-to-ship space battles of which he is part, there is no prize except death for second best.

Jinx, now an ArCorp sergeant, spent many of her younger years as a mercenary warrior, and drifted from planet to planet. Wherever she traveled, her propensity to be present when horrible events unfolded earned her the name she still carries. This day is no different, as her proximity to a terrorist attack proves.

The Wolfguard is comprised of suicidal shock troops, dropped into horrific battles by the Combine due to their enormous success rates. Each has a death wish for their own reasons, and each is brutally efficient in their approach. Ivar and his axes wait impatiently for the doors of the drop ship to open and unleash him upon his foes.

In the days before her assignment to Z262, the mercenary soldier Jinx finds herself aiding a local force in a sting operation, and she sees that sometimes things do not go the way she would want. As usual, her ill luck has come with her.

The ArCorp scout Diem rescues Miranda and Skeeter from their own folly when the pair are caught in a restricted area by a monstrous Marine on the transport ship, and the lesson they learn is not what they expected.